


Reflection

by Staranos



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6703279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Staranos/pseuds/Staranos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how Lapis Lazuli fell in love, had the best days of her life, and was punished for it.</p><p>(Edit: I have no intention of finishing this fic unless I get commissioned for it, I just have no motivation for it. Sorry lads)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Don't read this if you're looking for a happy story. This is definitely gonna be a tragedy. I'm trying to keep this aligned as closely to canon as physically possible.

Lapis could remember the day she lost her freedom like it was yesterday. She could still remember the piercing pain as her gem was cracked, as her physical form distorted and eventually just… Demanifested.  She remembered everything, being trapped in the mirror.  Everything she saw was burned into her mind like a brand; Being taken by the rebels when they finally captured the sky arena, the brutal battles that followed, and the inside of the renegade Pearl’s gem for thousands of years.    
  
But there was one thing that she remembered above all else.  She saw it seared into her eyelids every time she closed her eyes. The last thing she saw before she was imprisoned: _Her_ face.  She had memorized every detail.  The way her soft skin looked in the moonlight,  the way her cheeks glistened with tears that had slipped out beneath her bangs, the way her hands clasped and unclasped in front of her as she struggled to keep her composure despite her obvious distress.     
  
She often wondered what happened to her. Her lover:

Blue Diamond’s Pearl.   
  
Lapis had been a prisoner one way or another for the last several thousand years. Imprisoned in a mirror and kept as a tool by the rebels only to find when she was released that she had picked the wrong colony to return to. And then Malachite. Trapped at the bottom of the ocean with an angry and violent quartz crystal, the weight of the planet’s ocean and the limitless pool of spite in her heart the only things keeping them down.  

But this gave her a lot of time to think. To remember.  And even through the worst of her imprisonment, she found that the memory of a time before all of her suffering comforted her.  Calmed her.  Gave her the will to stay strong.    
  
And even now, months after Malachite was torn apart and she was free she found her mind wandering back to those memories.  She supposed that she would never stop dwelling on them; She couldn’t help but focus on that time before everything went horribly wrong. When she was happy.  When _they_ were happy.  

As she laid on the roof of Steven’s beachside house, her eyes shut to enjoy the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, she let these thoughts drift through her mind.  She let out a sigh, her hot breath clouding in the moonlight, and she let herself remember the first time they met.

* * *

 

Lapis remembered the first time she ever laid her eyes on Blue. Blue Diamond’s previous Pearl had been crushed, destroyed in an incident involving two of the Amethysts who guarded the Diamond’s court.  They were both eliminated swiftly and without trial as punishment for their crimes.  Nobody got away with damaging a Diamond’s belongings.   
  
Her new Pearl had arrived only days later.  Of course, they had been preparing a Pearl for this exact occasion for decades now, it was only a matter of time before Blue Diamond’s Pearl was broken.  Pearls were delicate and easily cracked, and while Blue Diamond seemed to treat her Pearl far more gently than some others it was inevitable that the thin little gem would break.

 

This Pearl was a much lighter shade of blue than predecessor, and she seemed far more unsure of herself.  She would stand silent at her Diamond’s feet for hours, her fingers tapping against one another as she watching the goings on in the court apprehensively. Lapis recalled thinking that she was beautiful from the moment she was presented to the court, shiny and new.    
  
At that time Lapis did not spend a lot of time in court. Though she was one of Blue Diamond’s most trusted advisors, most of her time was spent gathering intelligence on the other Diamond’s colonies.  She was a scout, small, agile, and incredibly powerful if caught in a corner.  While the Diamonds as a whole ruled the entirety of Homeworld with an iron fist, the four factions were entirely separate and no one Diamond fully trusted another.  She would spend months travelling the distant colonies, bringing back reports of suspicious behavior if need be.  There was a delicate balance between the Diamonds, one that needed to be handled carefully for fear of a great war.     
  
When the reports of the rebels on Earth came in, Blue Diamond immediately sent for her favored members of her court.  While it hadn’t been decided that this would be _her_ colony, it was a well known fact that Blue Diamond was by far the most diplomatic gem of all.  And none of the Diamonds wanted to risk another war.  So they sent Blue Diamond to handle the mess.   
  
The Earth had originally been designated as a colony for Pink Diamond, who had a reputation for being the most determined and militant in her methods of all the Diamonds.  But after a mysterious set of circumstances, known only to the Diamonds and those closest to them, she disappeared. She left behind several colonies and followers to be divided up amongst the other Diamonds, including the Earth and it’s inhabitants.  When the rebels were not crushed by the peacekeeping forces sent in by White Diamond, Blue Diamond determined that it would fall to her to handle these rebels.

And of course, as a favored member of Blue Diamond’s court, Lapis arrived in the sky arena when the time came.    
  
The rebel’s attack on the arena and the subsequent disappearance of Blue Diamond’s most prized Sapphire meant only one thing: War.  And since it was unclear as to whose possession this planet would fall under, it seemed that for the time being Blue Diamond would lead the war against the rebels. She and her court settled into the arena, the countless rooms beneath the floating structure were used for privacy and for gems to get rest when need be.   
  
Lapis found herself assigned the task of scouting for the rebel bases. It was highly unlikely she could be bested in a fight, especially considering the makeup of the planet, so her assignment was relatively safe.  The Earth was easy to traverse, but the rebels knew the terrain well and had their bases well-hidden from aerial surveillance.  Lapis had her work cut out for her.   
  
She would return after a week or so of scouting, report on what she had found, and spend a few days recuperating before flying back out.  It consumed a lot of energy to travel as much as she did, and even drawing power from the planet’s massive oceans she found that the longer she spent scouting, the more time it took her to recuperate.     
  
It was during one of these moments of respite that she first spoke to Blue Diamond’s new Pearl.   
  
She had returned from a scouting mission, and after debriefing with her Diamond she retired to her chambers to rest.  She had been assigned her own room in the Arena, nobody knew how long this war would take now that Blue Diamond’s Sapphire was gone; Future vision was an ability few gems were gifted with and without it there was no way of predicting the length of this conflict. That in mind, the entirety of Blue Diamond’s court settled in for the long haul.   
  
Lapis didn’t have many personal effects with how much traveling she did.  A small box of belongings, which she didn’t feel the need to unpack, was left settled in the corner of her chamber. She spent the better part of the day when she returned lying on the elevated respite surface provided her, closing her eyes and allowing her physical form to rest.  While gems didn’t need to sleep, relaxing helped their gem to re-energize far quicker.   
  
When she deemed she had recuperated enough, she decided to go on a walk.  She stepped out of her door and that was when she bumped into her.   
  
The Pearl was startled, she hadn’t been watching where she was going, and immediately she began to murmur her apologies. Some gems didn’t take kindly to a Pearl being in their way, and would lash out in response.   
  
Lapis wasn’t one of these gems, luckily enough, and she found her cheeks heating with a darker blue blush when she looked up at the thin gem who was stuttering out apologies in front of her.   She found her breathtakingly beautiful. She truly envied her Diamond for a moment, having a Pearl this lovely to look at whenever she felt the need.   
  
Lapis found herself laughing, tossing her bangs out of her face with a flick of her head and grinning widely up at the Pearl.  “It’s alright. Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”   
  
The Pearl looked taken aback, her eyes wide behind the curtain of her bangs before she offered a hesitant smile back, her cheeks flushing.  “O-Oh. T-Thank you.”   
  
Lapis smiled at her for a moment longer, her eyes lingering on her face and going over every detail, trying to soak in her beauty for just another second.  She blinked and straightened herself up, stepping out of the thin gem’s way to let her past.  “I’ll get out of your way. Sorry for the holdup.”   
  
The thin gem went even darker in her cheeks then, mumbling out another thank you and hurrying past. Lapis watched her retreat until she rounded a corner and couldn’t be seen anymore.   


She found herself determined to talk to the Pearl again.


	2. The Second Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis bumps in to Blue Pearl for the first time.

Their second meeting wasn’t quite as pleasant as their first.  After weeks of uneventful scouting missions, Lapis found herself growing restless.  She wanted things to progress, be it in the war or with her side interest in speaking to her Diamond’s captivating Pearl. She found herself spending less time resting during her brief periods at the sky arena, and more time endlessly wandering the hallways.  She couldn’t stand to be still.    
  
It was during one of these days of pacing the halls that she ran into her again.  She could have easily missed her, the thin gem had curled up behind a decorative pillar, her knees pulled to her chest and her trembling hands tugging at her sheer skirt.  She had made herself incredibly small, easily bypassed by any of the gems who were making their way to and fro, not bothering to look down.  This was a time of war, after all, nobody was worried about looking around their own base. They had better things to do.    
  
Lapis had stopped dead when she saw her, a frown spreading across her lips as she took in the sight in front of her.  The pale blue gem was shaking like a leaf on a windy fall day, her hands tugging anxiously at her skirt and her cheeks glistening with tears in the soft light of the hallway.  It took her a long moment to decide how to approach her, and even then she did it with caution.  The pearl was like a delicate little bird, she didn’t want to startle her into flying off.     
  
She approached her slowly, glancing up and down the hallway to assure they were alone before kneeling down in front of her.  At this point the Pearl had noticed her presence, her shoulders tensed and her breathing grew shallow.  Lapis wondered what had done this to her, but she said nothing of it.  Instead she took a moment to mull over her options before clearing her throat and speaking.  “Are you alright?”   
  
The pearl seemed to search her face from behind her bangs, her mouth pulled into a small unsure frown.  Lapis didn’t blame her.  She would be searching for ulterior motives too, if she was in the other gem’s position.     
  
The pale gem seemed to think over all of her options before responding, her mouth opening with a response and closing several times before she fully decided what she wanted to say.  “I’m fine.”    
  
Her voice sounded so small when she spoke.  It sent a pang straight through Lapis’ gem. She wanted nothing more than to soothe her anxieties away, but was unsure of how to comfort her without scaring her off. Her lips pulled into a frown as she tried to figure out exactly what she should do.  “I don’t-- You can speak honestly with me. I want to help you.”   
  
She seemed unsure still, her eyes searching Lapis’ face for some sign of deception or cruelty in her expression.  Finding none she shook her head again, bringing spindly fingers up under her bangs to brush her tears away.  “I-- T-There’s nothing to concern yourself with.  Thank you.”    
  
Lapis felt dizzy hearing the other gem’s voice, so soft and reserved and  _ beautiful _ .  She knew at that instant that she wanted nothing more than to make her happy. She cleared her throat, standing to her feet and offering down a hand to the pearl to help her up.     
  
After a second’s hesitation the pale gem took her hand and stood.  She had stopped shaking now, and as Lapis watched her take a deep cleansing breath she thought she seemed considerably more composed.  Lapis liked to think that she had something to do with that.     
  
The blue gem offered a smile and bowed deeply to the pearl, grinning widely at her when she straightened up and saw the deep blue blush dusting the other gem’s cheeks. She felt a familiar joyus feeling bubbling up in her chest, her own cheeks heating up.  She paused for a moment, gently taking the other gem’s hand and brushing her lips over the back of it.  “Do you need me to escort you to your destination?”   
  
The pearl froze as a gentle kiss was pressed to her skin, her eyes wide behind the curtain of her bangs. She shook her head.  Her voice was still small as she spoke again, her cheeks heating further as embarrassment boiled up in her chest.  “No.  I’ll be excusing myself now I-- I have to go.”    
  
Lapis had to force down her smile as the color spread across the other gem’s cheeks in response to her kiss, but instead she just dropped her hand and allowed her to hurry off down the hallway.  

 

She watched her fondly until she disappeared around a corner, a grin playing itself on to her lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> Any questions about this fic can be left as comments or sent to me at my tumblr at r4dk1dpyrop3.tumblr.com


End file.
